In the drilling and completion industry, the formation of boreholes for the purpose of production or injection of fluid is common The boreholes are used for exploration or extraction of natural resources such as hydrocarbons, oil, gas, water, and CO2 sequestration. A riser pipe may be fitted at the top of the borehole as a guide for a drill stem or as a conductor for drilling fluid. As tools are taken out through the riser pipe or introduced into the borehole through the riser pipe, some oil field operators have experienced a loss of tools and other equipment downhole when the tools and equipment are accidentally dropped, resulting in a loss of time trying to retrieve such dropped objects. Additionally, considerable expense may be suffered if the dropped object cannot be retrieved. It has been previously proposed to extrapolate a speed of a cable dropped into a well by monitoring rotation of wheels that pass the cable into the well or by monitoring the cable tension, however this approach requires direct contact with the cable and is limited to spooled devices.
Another extremely undesirable experience that needs to be prevented in the drilling and completion industry is a blowout. A blowout preventer (“BOP”) is a safety valve installed in a well which may be manipulated between open and closed positions by variation of hydraulic pressure contained within a line extending from the safety valve to a control panel at a surface of the well. BOPs come in various configurations, including rams and annular preventers, and are often used in stacks. The BOP can be triggered by an electrical control signal via a cable extending from the rig, a “deadman” switch designed to automatically trigger the BOP if connection between the rig and the BOP is severed, and an acoustic control signal sent to the BOP from a surface location. In any case, the BOP is triggered when well fluids are required to be confined to the borehole. It has been previously proposed to employ slip rams of a blowout preventer to assist in the prevention of lost tubulars and tools downhole during their removal process, however this approach requires contact with the tubular or tool, is not based on the speed of the tubulars, and is limited to use during removal as it does not allow introduction into the well.
Accordingly, improvements for previous methodologies and configurations would be well received by the art.